“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13, NIV).

I saw a patient today with pain in his left tibia due to metastatic cancer. Plain films did not show a break, but the pain suggested the possibility of an impending fracture. I contacted the orthopedic surgeon in our institution who is presently locum tenens. He told me he didn’t see anything suspicious on the x-rays, and we should just radiate it. He couldn’t answer the question about pain on weight bearing and was annoyed that I pushed him about it. “If you want to know any more, you’ll have to get an MRI,” he said. I asked if he would see the patient after the MRI, and he replied, “Why are you trying to drag me into this?” I was firm in my response, “I am the chief of oncology. I have a patient with a possible impending fracture. You are an orthopedic surgeon working here to help our patients. I am asking you to help.” He replied, “You have a compelling argument. Yes, I’ll see him.”

It’s uncomfortable when God asserts Himself in an ongoing discussion with me and finalizes my decision making: “I’m God; you’re man. Just do it.”

It’s quite helpful in our walk through this life to understand who we are and who God is. He certainly wants to be our friend (John 15:15). He’s the closest friend we will ever have, but He’s like a friend who is also the President of the United States, the Colonel of my battalion, the CEO for whom I work—a friend far above any level of authority on earth. He’s got a plan conceived within a level of knowledge and love that I will never have. When He tells me what to do, it’s for His plan, not mine, for all His people, not just me, though it will always work for my eternal benefit.

Sometimes we let God step into the role of a buddy who gives us life suggestions, and we respect Him with that level of serious consideration.

God says, “If you would quit being angry, if you would drop some of that pride, if you would share my gospel with your neighbor, if you would join that mission trip to Ethiopia, if you would actually give sacrificially, that would be really cool.”

And we reply, “Good ideas; let me think about them.”

God clearly mandates numerous areas of our lives in His Word and through His ongoing revelation as the Holy Spirit. The Ten Commandments never went away with the cross of Christ; they just quit being our gateway to His kingdom and were finally made possible by His presence. God’s command to serve the underserved, to seek the good of others more than our own, to tell others about Jesus, to love our spouses as Christ loved the church, etc., are not friendly suggestions to consider; in fact, they are demands from the Creator of the Universe who died for us.

What has God told me to do with my life that I am considering rather than doing? The fact that He is God provides a compelling argument that I should get started.

Dear Father,

When I hear, let me choose to do.

Amen